Legal Advice on Patents & Trade Mark for Product Design

Product Design Industry Services

Good design is essential for standing out. Our experienced product design lawyers support designers across sectors such as furniture, lighting, giftware, technology, food & drink, fashion and luggage.

From registering your designs and licensing them, through to exporting and contract negotiations with distributors and retailers, our expert team of intellectual property lawyers have years of experience helping product designers maximise their businesses potential and overcome IP concerns.

We have recently worked with an independent furniture designer to prevent design rights infringement from a large retailer as well as a case where our team of product design solicitors negotiated agreements on behalf of a large European kitchenware designer to enforce their IP rights after an infringement from a national retailer with vast legal resources. Both of these cases resulted favourably for our clients, with the retailers in question going on to stock our client’s products and profitable relationships were built.

To find out more about our intellectual property services and how they can benefit your product design business read on or fill in the contact form opposite to book a free consultation and we’ll be in touch shortly.

“Spoke to Alex today about some IP around colours, copyright and design rights. He was super helpful confirming some of my thoughts and adding in the extras I never thought about. Spoke for about 20 minutes and I left the convo with much more knowledge. No hard sell here, Alex was really personable and was honest about something that would incur a cost, but never tried to push anything on me. I will definitely be back.”

– Accessory House, Product Design Services Client

How Can We Help?

Our legal services for product design firms include:

Trade Marks

Your products speak for themselves, and over time this can build your reputation as an authority in your industry. Why risk the trust you’ve worked so hard to build up by not protecting your brand with trade mark registration.

A trade mark gives you the exclusive right to use your brand in relation to what you do. Your brand is your identity, a sign of quality and usually a major driving force behind a consumer purchase. We can advise you on your brand strategy and make sure it’s registered and properly protected anywhere in the world.

Commercial Contracts

Getting your products out there is no easy feat, it’s a balancing act between any number of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers and freelancers. Keeping all of these in check should be a strong set of agreements that hold other parties to account and protect you and your rights.

Our experienced product design solicitors offer fixed fees to draft, review and negotiate documents.

Design Registration

We can help to protect the one thing that makes your business stand out, your designs, by registering them and securing your intellectual property rights for up to 25 years. When combined with trade marks and copyright protections we can ensure you have the surest legal footing on which to do business in the best way for you.

Registering your designs offers comprehensive and cost-effective protection for your original creations. We can help secure registered rights and build your intellectual property portfolio.

Confidential information

Your product design business is built not only on the physical end product but the information you acquire along the way. Inside knowledge of the industry, supply chains and contacts are all valuable information to your business. We can help to protect your proprietary information with non-disclosure agreements and advice on confidentiality.

Patents

Designers thrive on creating innovative market leading advances in their products, setting them apart from their competitors and driving sales. The importance of protecting your innovations with a patent therefore cannot be understated.

A patent can be one of the most powerful tools you have for keeping your inventions safe. From innovative inventions to technological advances, our expert patent solicitors and associate patent attorneys can advise you on patent protection and guide you through the application process.

Why Choose Briffa?

We’ve provided legal support for the product design industry since 1995

We offer a free consultation

We provide fixed fee quotes

We have offices in the UK, the Republic of Ireland and Malta

We offer an industry leading service with short turnaround times and business-focused advice

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I register my design?

Registration isn’t a requirement for providing your designs with some form of protection. Unregistered designs are automatically covered for a period of time however registration offers a much longer term of protection (up to 25 years) along with a clear way to evidence ownership.

The further benefits of registration include protection of any aspect of your design, such as shape and surface decoration. It gives you the right to prevent others from using it for the full term of protection and it makes taking legal action against an infringer more straightforward (without the obligation to prove an opportunity to copy). You will also receive a registration number which can be displayed on the product.

Who owns the design rights for my product?

It depends. Intellectual property rights can be owned by either the designer themselves, their employer or the person or organisation commissioning the design. Usually ownership is agreed upon first and in writing before any design work is done or purchased. This is why it is so important for all parties involved to have solid commercial contracts detailing the ownership of any design work done.

If I register my design in the UK am I covered internationally?

Unfortunately not. Registered designs or patents granted in the UK are not protected abroad.

For design registration abroad you can apply for a Registered Community Design (RCD) covering the whole of the European Union (EU). You can use the Hague System to apply to a number of different countries or territories at the same time, through a single application. Or you can apply to countries individually.

For patents the process is possibly even more complicated. Applying to the European Patent Office (EPO) could get you cover in over 30 EU countries. However applying for a patent in other countries requires going through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), a long, expensive and drawn out process for securing a patent in multiple international territories, potentially taking years and with no guarantee of acceptance. It is highly recommended that you seek assistance from an experienced IP lawyer with this process.

If you are interested in protecting your designs or inventions either in the UK or abroad contact us here.

Meet the Team

Briffa’s specialist solicitors have been practising intellectual property law in the UK and Europe for over twenty-five years. Meet our team and see the faces behind our success stories.

William Miles

Partner

Éamon Chawke

Partner

Tom Synott

Senior Associate

Book a free consultation with one of our specialist solicitors.

We’ll start with a no obligation chat where we’ll get to know you and understand your current challenges.

Book your free consultation now

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Product Design Lawyers